Is Stable Attention Possible?
Can we develop stable attention, and where might it lead?
A Meditator’s Question:
I’m trying to reach a state of “non-dual consciousness,” which has been described as “part of your brain shutting off,” allowing you to experience awareness in its entirety. According to the description I’ve read, awareness exists outside the body, so we're no longer tied to it. Is this accurate?
I've heard that to get there, I have to quiet my mind and gain Insight using stable attention. However, when I meditate, my mind is all over the place. My attention constantly gets scattered across a million distractions, so at this point, I’m not even sure if stable attention is possible. If it is, how long must I sustain it for Insights to arise?
Oded’s Answer:
Stable attention is possible and achievable with enough diligent, systematic practice. If you follow the detailed instructions in The Playful Path to Awakening, you'll see how the periods of stable attention gradually extend. As your skill grows, you'll be able to enter that stable state more quickly and keep it for longer, eventually even for hours on end.
To address your question about Insights, there’s no fixed amount of time you must spend in stable attention before they arise. It is just one of the supporting conditions. As Culadasa puts it: “Awakening is an accident, but continued practice will make you accident-prone.”
As for what you wrote about non-dual consciousness and no longer being tied to your body, I’d be careful to distinguish the experience from its interpretation.
While we can have an intellectual discussion about whether "awareness exists outside the body" or whether it's accurate to say that "part of the brain shuts off," doing so might do you a disservice. Pursuing precise answers to these questions would be more of a distraction than a source of practical support. When Insights present themselves directly in practice, they're intuitively understood with greater clarity than any written description can provide.
To make progress, I suggest you direct your energy to consistent, systematic, daily training of the mind through meditation, remaining curious about what you actually experience. Focus on following the meditation method and its exact instructions, recognizing obstacles, and finding solutions. If something is unclear, I’m here to help.
With Metta,
Oded
